Postcard For Reader

Blogger Guest Post: TBR Pile

It’s no secret that I love books. When I was five, Matilda by Roald Dahl sparked a love of reading in me. In the fall I’ll be taking my passion for books and sharing them with others to a whole new level by going to library school to earn my MLIS. I want to read as many books as I can in my life time while still having fun spending time with people I love, and sometimes, this goal feels overwhelming. Then again, the piles of unread books in my room probably aren’t helping with this problem.

While I love clothes and shoes, books are probably my favorite thing to buy. I’m a re-reader, so I like to have copies of books I enjoy on my shelves. At present, I have four bookshelves filled with books, a little stacking crate with two levels, books piled on and around my dresser and a few in my closet. And those are just the books divided between the two bedrooms I use (two house situation). I may or may not have snuck a few onto a communal shelf in one of our living rooms (spoiler alert: I did).

Most days, there’s at least one point where I sit down and wonder how I will ever get through all of the books in my TBR pile, wishing I read faster. I tend to read right before bed, and these thoughts tend to hit me before bed at times when I think, I should have read more today. Thankfully, these bouts of worries usually only last about five minutes.

I should back up, though, and explain what I mean when I say TBR pile. I think when a lot of people say “TBR pile,” they’re referring solely to the books they already own which are waiting to be read. When I use this term, I’m not only referring to the piles of books in my room, but to any book that I’d like to read some day, even if I am dubious about it. Websites like GoodReads and LibraryThing have made it easy for me to keep a digital record of books in which I’m interested. While it’s easier than having titles written down on random scraps of paper, those websites, along with the blogosphere, constantly help me to discover new books, resulting in the amount of books I want to read skyrocketing. Right now, my “to-read” list on GoodReads has 1,883 books on it.

I haven’t counted the number of unread books I own. I know it’s a lot. Seeing the number of reviews other bloggers post per week sometimes make me feel behind. I’m glad my books can’t talk, because if they could, I think they would shout things like, “Read faster!” or perhaps wail, “I’ve been sitting here for so long! I just want to be read! Please!” Sometimes if people mention a book that I own but haven’t read I’ll say, “Oh yeah, that one. I’ve got that in a pile in my room somewhere.” At the end of the day, though, even when my goals seem insurmountable, I keep repeating the same thing:
just keep reading.

Of course, I am not a reading machine. Sometimes I fall behind, become immensely busy, or start feeling a little burnt out. If I get stuck on one particular book, I give something else a try. The great thing about having such a huge TBR pile is that I constantly have choices. If I need a break from reading, I just take a break for a few days. Usually, after that amount of time has passed, I’m feeling immensely drawn to at least one of my books.

Obviously, the amount of books I read affects the content of my blog. I’m not going to lie, sometimes I worry about not having enough to post, whereas others I wonder how I will ever write up everything I’d like to post. Sometimes when I see how many books other bloggers read and how much they post, I start to feel behind, even though I know making such comparisons is unhealthy. I just remind myself that I started it for fun, and that it will become stressful if I put too much pressure on myself.

I still have a lot of reading and blogging to do in my life time. I love that these activities keep my happy and intellectually stimulated, but I also intend to make sure the remain enjoyable. I’m just going to keep going at the pace that works for me and take Bobby McFerrin’s advice of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

Liz is a bibliophile who will soon be going to graduate school to earn her MLIS. She particularly enjoys reading YA and the classics, and resides in MN with her family and a wonderful yellow lab. She runs Consumed by Books.